Discovery Channel to telecast film on Bihar’s Super 30

Patna, March 14 (IANS) The success story of a Bihar-based coaching institute will be telecast by Discovery Channel this weekend, showing how its underprivileged and marginalised students make their way to India’s premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). “The Discovery Channel would telecast the inspiring story of Super 30 Sunday afternoon and March 21 and 29. This is the first time Discovery has chosen something positive from Bihar for telecast,” said Anand Kumar, who runs the institute, called Super 30.

Super 30 selects a group of 30 IIT aspirants from poor and marginalised families and provides free coaching, food and accommodation. Last year all the students of Super 30 passed the highly competitive IIT entrance exam.

“It was the first time that Super 30 achieved 100 percent success. The success of Super 30 lies in hard work and proper guidance for achieving excellent result,” Kumar said.

An hour-long documentary, produced by Veronica Hall and directed by Christopher Mitchell, captured all aspects of the mission started by mathematician Anand Kumar seven years ago. The film, shot over a year, shows how the students develop confidence in themselves despite their impoverished backgrounds.

“It is a very inspiring story which the people would certainly like to see and know. This is the reason Discovery decided to show a one-hour documentary on the successful experiment of Anand, which has shaped many lives,” said Rajiv Bakshi of the Discovery Channel.

Director of the film Christopher Mitchell said the film had evoked tremendous response.

“Super 30 is an amazing initiative and it needs to be taken to maximum people around the globe,” said Mitchell, whose film also bagged the Audience Choice Award at the sixth Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.